Top tips to have fun on the mountain
The essence of skiing’s joy can be found in the arc of a turn or sailing through the air on your first jump, but there are also some boring parts in between. Here are some tips to making the mundane and challenging parts of skiing more fun for kids:
1. Starting a snowball fight in a lift queue is a great way to keep warm, but it might not make your family very popular with other skiers! If you need to fend off the cold, try instead hand clap games like patty cake to get the limbs moving and warming up.
2. Keep a superhero figurine in your pocket to give your child some inspiration when the going gets tough. If you’ve ever tried to step up to a new challenge on the mountain, you’ll know that a few wise words from Wonderwoman can make all the difference.
3. Have a tea party in the gondola. This is super fun for all involved, and little breaks with food and tea (or hot choccies!) will keep the kids going for longer.
4. Go skiing in places that your kids love - maybe that’s a favourite piste run, or the park where they can start building their competence and confidence with their first jumps and rails. Encouraging kids to design their own adventure brings a higher level of engagement.
5. To get gloves onto an unwilling child, make it into a game: hold the glove in front of your face and goad the child into a wrestling match where their aim is to plunge their hand into the glove and try to touch your nose - those gloves will be on in no time!
6. If bad weather strikes, take the family onto a wide piste and try human slalom - where each family member is a race gate, and the others must ski around them - check out this video to see how it works. If you’re not willing to risk life and limb for a good laugh, you can also try ski pole slalom (making a race course from everyone’s ski poles).
7. Bring an emergency game or book in case a little one needs some play time after lunch, or on a particularly long gondola ride. Through the course of your holiday there will be plenty of moments you’ll be grateful for on-tap entertainment.
8. If your child is new to skiing or needs to build on technical skills, we highly recommend booking them into ski school to get the kids learning, and having fun with new friends. Our partner, European Snowsport operates in many ski resorts across the Alps. Book a lesson in and check out this blog from childcare experts, Petit Verbier to learn the best ways to get your child ready for ski school.
There you have our best tips for keeping the vibes high for the whole family on the mountain. If you try our tips and get some fun footage or imagery, don’t hesitate to share them on social media and tag us with the handle @cirkelsupply
Happy skiing!
